Job 29:7-17, Psa 72:2-4, Mic 3:11, Zec 7:9-11 | ESV | STEP | When I went out to the gate of the city , when I prepared my seat in the square ,

Job 29:7-17

7 When I went out to ^athe gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
9 the princes refrained from talking
and ^blaid their hand on their mouth;
10 the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their ^ctongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I ^ddelivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13 ^eThe blessing of him who was ^fabout to perish came upon me,
and I caused ^gthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I ^hput on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and ⁱa turban.
15 I was ^jeyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out ^kthe cause of him whom I did not know.
17 I ^lbroke ^mthe fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

Psalms 72:2-4

2 May he ⁿjudge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
3 Let the mountains bear ^oprosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!

Micah 3:11

11 ^pIts heads give judgment for a bribe;
^qits priests teach for a price;
^rits prophets practice divination for money;
^syet they lean on the Lord and ^tsay,
“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
^uNo disaster shall come upon us.”

Zechariah 7:9-11

9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^vRender true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 ^wdo not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, ^xor the poor, and ^ylet none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” 11 But ^zthey refused to pay attention ^aaand turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. ^{▼▼Hebrew and made their ears too heavy to hear}